News

Attacks on trade union rights at Prosegur are spiraling out of control following yet another wave of anti-union practices by the firm in Colombia.

The Spanish security multinational is ramping up its apparently-relentless opposition towards the Colombian private security union SINTRVALORES, which is locked in a desperate struggle to protect workers’ human rights.

Most recently, Prosegur has been sidestepping its collective agreement with SINTRAVAORES by hiring all of its new workers in Colombia from its own, fully-owned subsidiaries in the guise of contractors from so-called “other companies.” By implementing this contrived contractual arrangement, workers outside of the collective agreement are missing out on the same working conditions as those covered by the deal.

Unions reacted to the practice by founding, in late December, a new industry-wide union, SINTRAVALSEC, designed to help all cash-in-transit workers as opposed to a Prosegur-specific union.

Prosegur’s attempt to bypass the Sintravalores collective agreement is at the heart of an ongoing dispute between the union and the company.  The Sintravalores-Prosegur collective agreement requires Prosegur to move workers from temporary to permanent employment status following 4 months of satisfactory work.

This contract provision was agreed to by a company purchased by Prosegur a number of years ago.  Since then, Prosegur has unsuccessfully fought the union to eliminate this job security protection. 

Having been unable to force the union to back down, the company shifted its strategy and has been in an ongoing struggle to destroy the union altogether.

Sadly, the attacks do not stop there. Prosegur has also escalated its attacks on individual union leaders and activists.

In Neiva, where a physical attack against Hector Bermeo took place in November, there has been across-the-board retaliation against union members for blowing the whistle on the attack.  Of the 13 members the union had in Neiva immediately prior to the attack on Bermeo, 3 have been fired and 4 have been disciplined. 

Bermeo himself was issued a 3-day suspension for allegedly provoking the manager to attack him by saying that “there was no general security manager in Neiva”, and by throwing his munitions in the rubbish, which he disputes having done.  Prosegur claims this was videotaped but will not provide a copy to Hector or the union. 

Prosegur’s Global Human Resources Director conducted a one-sided investigation into the attack on Bermeo in November, which UNI denounced as a “sham investigation” at the time.  Now 7 out of 13 union members have been fired or disciplined in the nearly 2 months following this attack. 

Despite ongoing warnings from UNI on workers’ rights abuses by company staff in Colombia and throughout Latin America, Prosegur bosses in Spain continue to deny that there are serious problems with their Colombian operation.

UNI Global Union will not stand by and watch these attacks on fundamental human rights without confronting them and demanding justice for Prosegur workers everywhere.